The country stands confused and skeptical before the president's latest attempts to free hostages held by the FARC.

Gabriela Perdomo - Tomorrow is the day Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has set to finish freeing up to 180 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla fighters from the country's jails. His plan has started already with the liberation of 56 combatants and the unexpected release of Rodrigo Granda, considered as the FARC's link with the international community, and whose arrest in 2004 had been showcased as one of Uribe's most important hits against this armed group.

Granda, Uribe explained two nights ago in a televised speech, was liberated following a request by French president Nicolas Sarkozy. France's new head of state has vowed to help Colombia seek the liberation of 56 "political prisoners" (police and army officers and politicians), including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, held by the FARC. The speedy deal pushed by Sarkozy—which does not include the liberation of the other guerrilla members—took the country by storm.

A news agency known to portray the FARC commanders' views has declared the organization rejects what they call Uribe's unilateral and arbitrary decisions to free the fighters against their will. They refuse to acknowledge the gesture as a peace effort, and have so far stopped short of offering any "humanitarian gesture" in return, such as liberating their hostages. So the president's controversial one-man show, which comes at a very high cost for the country's democratic institutions—who have been trying to legitimate their struggle against the FARC for decades—has no signs of bringing up any success just yet. But something could happen.

The FARC are Colombia's biggest left-wing armed group. They have been fighting for decades and have evolved into a massive criminal organization involved in drug trafficking and massacres. Uribe won his first term in office promising to end them by military means, but despite major economic and human efforts, the organization remains intact. Under increasing pressure from the Colombian public—and especially the families of those kidnapped by the FARC—the government has agreed to discuss the possibility of negotiating a prisoner swap. Guerrilla leaders demand the demilitarization of two large territories to make it happen. Uribe refuses, recalling the failed government-FARC negotiations led by his predecessor, Andrés Pastrana, in an army-free zone in the south.

The FARC have said they will not negotiate anything with the "illegitimate" and "radical right-wing" government of Uribe. But now this matter has completely gone international. France is in the picture, and other G-8 countries will probably join in as well. By minimizing Uribe's role in a possible negotiation, the chances to bring some hope into a desperately still conflict might be slightly better.

According to Alfredo Rangel, a Colombian security analyst, Sarkozy must have requested Granda's liberation for a very good reason. Perhaps, Rangel says, to use his high profile within the international community to request that the European Union (EU) and the United States remove the FARC from the list of terrorist organizations and grant it the status of political dissidents they lost years ago. The theory is that Sarkozy would be willing to advocate for this during this week's G-8 meeting in Germany, and thus give a reason to the FARC to give something back. It is unclear whether Granda will meet with Sarkozy any time soon. But already Uribe has anointed him as a "peace envoy".

Uribe's move comes at a turbulent time. The president is risking a lot for something that could turn into yet another futile effort to seek the liberation of thousands of FARC captives. More and more Colombians, and quite notably the Colombian media, are growing impatient over the fate of the 56 so-called political prisoners and the more than 3,500 civilians retained by the FARC. The clamour for their liberation grew bigger just days ago, when it was confirmed the FARC now hold the youngest hostage in the world, Emmanuel. The three-year-old baby is the son of Clara Rojas, who was kidnapped along with her boss, the then-presidential candidate Betancourt, five years ago.

Uribe has no choice but to do well this time. If this bold move results in a faux pas, he will have to face the growing accusations that this whole idea was rather a smoke screen designed to divert attention from an ongoing scandal relating many of his closest allies to military groups. The Sarkozy element brings hope to the equation. But Colombians know all too well not to get their hopes up when it comes to the FARC. Too many times they have deceived the people they claim to be fighting for.

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